Public Transport and Infrastructure
Over and above the investment in the road
infrastructure around the mall, a further innovation
in the design is the inclusion within the mall
parking of a dedicated taxi rank for 80 taxis. With
car wash facilities and bathrooms designed after
consulting with the relevant taxi associations it
brings consumers and commuters right into the
mall with easy access up one escalator.
Lights and Colour
The old Fourways Mall connects to Fourways
View, combining these previously two separate
offerings into one accessible shopping experience.
A new feature link bridge between the Mall and
the new multi-storey parkade is enclosed on the
north side with coloured glass panels that create
a playful and memorable experience and an easily
recognisable ‘landmark’ wayfinding structure.
The use of natural light to increase user comfort
within such a large interior space is managed by
the use of skylights - the largest being the 22m
x 18m skylight over the Promotions Court. The
skylight was a worthy SAISC Steel Awards 2019
winner in the tubular steel category. The large
exo-skeleton for this skylight was produced on
the ground and then lifted into place.
Seating
The care to bring the outside in was extended
to the use of large pieces of shaped timber for
the public seating throughout the mall. Offset by
Fourways Mall
planting, these features are deliberate soft touches
brought in to bring human scale to the expanse
of the mall. “Often shoppers have long distances
to walk and providing natural pause areas allows
people to regroup, refresh and then continue
with their experience. This is often an overlooked
component of improving the experience for
the end user and something we believe quite
strongly in when reviewing retail design” says
Malcolm Coulson.
Consistent Detail
To retain the emphasis of light, transparency and
volumetric design, the shop fronts in the main area
of the 5-storey mall are designed as frameless
glazing that start from 4.8m high and in some areas
go up to 7,3m high. In lower parts of the retail
outlets a smaller framed shop front was introduced
to provide flexibility for smaller tenants and to
create some variety.
Due to the size of the floor surface the archi-
tecture and interior architecture team, working to
the client brief, were able to source a producer of
tiles in Italy who could produce the high volume
needed in the time and price range required.
CONCLUSION
The new Fourways Mall has taken the South
African retail experience to the next level, meeting
the demand for destination shopping that offers
more for the customer than the traditional shopping
mall environment.
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